Halo: Contingency Plan
by Deathofbelief
Summary: This is the story of a ship that fled Reach after the Pillar of Autumn. R
1. Chapter 1

Orbit Reach 2551

"Sir, there are four Covenant freighters and two capital ships. Lieutenant Keyes and his fleet are engaged in close quarters combat. What should we do?" asked the systems operator.

"Engaged. All MAC guns fire when ready," said Admiral Valdez.

Admiral Valdez was ordered to move from Onyx to Reach to help protect it. When he got his fleet ready he had a total of three freighters, two war ships, and four well-armed cargo ships. Valdez himself commanded the only heavy freighter in the fleet.

By the time he got to Reach the Covenant had started to launch ground assault craft. Lieutenant Keyes and his men had lead the defense of Reach, and are currently trying to pull marines and other personnel off the planet.


	2. Touch Down

Constario, Reach 2551

Planet side, two pelicans were loaded with a team of ODSTs. Their mission was to secure a safe place for the remaining forces to retreat to and evacuate from. This team was made up of twenty-nine marines.

"First Sergeant, we are almost to the LZ," said the pilot over the comm.

"Okay Marines! Two minutes till touch down," said First Sergeant Stafford.

At that the marines loaded their weapons and put on their helmets. ODSTs are known for being the worst tempered marines in the UNSC. They are also the most dedicated. Doing anything that has to be done to finish the job.

"Touch down," came the pilots voice over the comm.

"Go, go, go!"

The marines jumped out and took up a full 360 degrees security. They had been dropped four miles away from their target site so that they wouldn't give their position away. Around them was a mall. In the mall's parking lot there were hundreds of cars, a destroyed scarab, and seven destroyed scorpions.

"Alpha team, move up to the scarab and make sure there isn't anything inside it. Bravo, check some those tanks for ammo and mobility. Charlie, move to the end of the parking lot and secure a position to cross," said Stafford.

The ODSTs move to complete their orders. Alpha moved to the scarab. They took up positions on either side underside and prepared to go up onto the top. Running to the top of the scarab they ran along to the backside of the scarab where the stabilizer is. The marines looked and noticed that the stabilizer wasn't there. This meant that the scarab was destroyed.

"First Sergeant, this is Alpha, scarab all clear."

"Roger, Alpha. Come out and move to Charlie's location."

Outside Charlie had moved halfway to the other end of the parking lot. The two men that were on point had just got to a moving van when they heard a low whistling sound.

"First Sergeant, this is Sergeant Taylor, banshees incoming. Find cover."

"Everyone, find cover. We have incoming."

"Taylor, how many are there?" asked First Sergeant.

"Three."

"Alpha, Bravo shoot them down."

With that Alpha and Bravo had their two rockets up and ready for the banshees to come within sight. When they came over the mall the rockets fired and each rocket scored a hit on the front of two banshees. They quickly adjusted their aim and fired again at the last remaining banshee. One rocket hit the banshee in the back and the last rocket missed. The banshee burst in two and the two halve hit the ground around the scarab.

"Status report," yelled First Sergeant.

All teams blinked their status symbols green three times giving the all clear signal.

"Everyone move to Charlie's position."

All teams moved to the end of the parking lot and took up a 260 degree security. A little green blip on the HUD told Alpha to move across the road to the other side into the alley. They took up over watch positions and sent two down the alley to watch for enemies there. Within ten minutes all three squads had safely crossed the road and were working their way down the alley.

When Stafford reached the scouts he noticed that there was a dead grunt patrol lying face down on the ground. The next alley that the group went into turned to the right. From there they went to the left which led out into an open courtyard.

In this courtyard lie covenant patrols. This group of covenant consisted of three elites, fifteen grunts, and six jackals. They had set up what looked like an encampment right under the tree in the center of the courtyard. In the center of the encampment was a tall purple spire, which the UNSC had figured out to be communications arrays. Around the encampment six barriers had been set up to provide cover if they were ever attacked.

"Alpha move into the buildings to the right, Charlie move behind the cars, and Bravo move to a flanking position to the left near that bus," ordered Stafford.

The teams moved into their position. Bravo had to move around to the back of the building where they found a door. They opened it and took positions by the eight windows that faced the covenant. Alpha moved to the bus and took up positions at the front and rear. Charlie went to the two cars and hid, waiting for their signal.

"First Sergeant, this is Rios. We have a clear shot at the covenant."

"Roger. Is everyone in position?" Green lights lit his display. "Bravo, go red."

At this Rios gave his squad the signal to fire. Rios himself fired at the red elite that was closest to him. The six jackals spun, four of them caught rounds into their heads. The remaining two powered on their power gauntlets and returned fire. Charlie took the advantage and fired at the remaining jackals, catching them in their soft fleshy backs. The grunts panicked and ran towards the rear. The three elites howled and ran toward the grunts. Seeing this the grunts turned and started to return fire on the squad. Alpha opened fire on the first few grunts as they rushed the cars. One of the elites ran towards the car activating his cloaking. The others two elites returned fire from behind a barricade.

While firing from behind the car, one of the ODSTs heard a humming sound. He turned to see what it was and saw the massive elite standing over him. The elite powered his energy sword up and brought it down on the marines shoulder. The marine let a scream of terror turning the heads of his battle buddies. The rest of Charlie seen the elite and started to open fire. The elites shields had flickered and then burst as it deactivated. The bullets cut through the elites flesh as it howled in pain. The other two elites heard this and started to charge the cars with swords drawn. Bravo and Alpha saw this and directed their men to open fire on the vunerable elites. As the bullets dug into their flesh they fell and their swords flickered off.

"Charlie secure the bodies, Bravo keep overwatch, and Alpha take and scout ahead." barked Stafford.

Charlie worked on sealing the gash in the marine's shoulder. The wound was gushing out blood and he was lying in a pool of blood. As they treated him he started to spit out blood and Taylor knew he was gone. They covered him up and continued with searching the dead covenant.

Once the area was secure the plattoon continued to move. Alpha had scouted all the way to the next road before they had finally stopped. When the other finally reached them they had informed the First Sergeant that they were about a mile away from their objective. The rest of the way was fairly clear. They ran into a few grunt patrols and quickly cleared them out.

Once they cleared the grunts they procceeded to the CCP.


End file.
